Join Davin and Aga Luczakowska in the Maramures region of northern Romania in summer 2010 for a week of enchantment in some of the most traditional villages left in Europe.

For decades Romania’s closed border policy under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu as well as a natural fortress of mountains kept Maramures isolated from the rest of Europe. Even after the fall of Communism change was slow to enter the region. But Romania joined the European Union in 2007 and Maramures is at last changing. Come savor this rural life before it vanishes forever!

We are offering a week-long documentary photography workshop based in the village of Valeni where Davin has photographed since 2002 and has extensive contacts and experience. Everyone will stay with a family and have great access to village life and enjoy traditional Romanian food. The pair will be working closely with workshop participants and providing daily critiques and group discussions. The goal of this workshop is to create one’s own personal photo essay on peasant life. We will shoot during the day and edit in the evenings. Over the course of the week participants will perfect their storytelling abilities and learn to edit — select and sequence your photographs — intuitively. It’s a workshop open to amateurs and professionals alike. Technical, theoretical and aesthetic issues will be discussed as attendees work towards honing their individual visions. The workshop will begin with individual portfolio reviews and Davin and Aga will show their own photography as well as the work of classic masters.

It will be an opportunity to witness the last peasants in Europe living life as they have for millennia albeit with a few aspects of modern life mixed in! It is an all digital workshop and students should come with their own laptop and editing software.

The workshop is limited to 12 students.

DATES: 9-13 August

WORKSHOP LOCATION: Valeni, Maramures, Romania.

WORKSHOP FEE: €400 and includes lodging and meals. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to Romania and up to Maramures. Many airline carriers fly to Bucharest.

ACCOMMODATION: Homestays with families which will include all meals.

REGISTRATION: The workshop is open to any professional or committed amateur who has knowledge of digital cameras and editing software.

Bios:

Aga and Davin are freelance photographers based between Katowice, Poland and Bucharest, Romania.

Aga studied in the US with National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig and National Geographic photo editor David Griffin. Later, she studied with photographers Stanley Greene, Alex Majoli and Lorenco Castore at Masterclass Focus on Monferrato in Tuscany.

Davin worked at National Geographic photographer Steven McCurry’s studio in New York and studied with photographers Eugene Richards, Ken Light, Constantine Manos, George Tice and Paul Lowe. In 2006 he completed an MA in documentary photography at The London College of Communication.

Aga has worked for the Polish newspapers Polska The Times (Dziennik Zachodni) and Gazeta Wyborcza and her photographs have been published worldwide (Poland, Turkey, Germany, China, USA). She has won numerous awards including one from the Office for the City of Katowice, Poland, Newsweek Poland and National Geographic Magazine.

Davin has completed assignments for such publications as The International Herald Tribune, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Courrier Japon, Bloomberg News. His work has appeared in The New York Times and Der Spiegel and the book This Day of Change, among others. The recipient of the 2009 Portfolio Award at The Phodar Photography Biennial in Bulgaria, Davin has also won an honorable mention in Jen Bekman´s Hey! Hot Shot Contest in both 2008 and 2009. He has worked for various NGOs such as Leslie Hawke’s Ovidiu Rom in Bucharest and The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) whose Romanian staff he trains in photography.